


Kiss The Wind

by MrMsTanaka



Category: Takarazuka Revue RPF
Genre: Angst, F/F, Romance, Takarazuka - Freeform, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-30
Updated: 2012-10-02
Packaged: 2017-11-15 09:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/525606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrMsTanaka/pseuds/MrMsTanaka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mirio got a broken heart, but she tries to continue living her daily life, though it’s hard. A stranger crosses her way and suddenly she feels much lighter and continues to think positive…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Keep Hanging

“But why won’t you give us another chance?”  
“I told you, it’s over!”  
“Just let me expla-“  
“No! Get out of here!”  
The situation was pretty close to explode when Masao stood in Mirio’s living room, trying her to explain a recent incident.  
“Don’t touch me! There’s the door, now go.” The younger of the both was furious, got rid of Masao’s slightly touch, ran to her entry door and nearly ripped the handle apart because she was too snappy.  
Masao gave up, sighed toneless; although she tried another attempt to speak with the other woman, she became instantly silent again as soon as she saw Mirio’s face which was filled with anger and sadness.  
“I… I’m really sorry.” She almost just whispered and rushed through the door, didn’t look back when she heard the door falling into the lock behind her.   
  
Mirio slammed the door maybe a bit too hard and wasn’t able to hold in her tears anymore. Slowly they started to run over her face, were covering every part of her beautiful facial features with sadness and wrath. First she was just upset and nearly was about to slap Masao, but she held in, she never acted like this, she was too kind for such things. But she couldn’t understand why Masao acted like that, why she became such an awful person, tricking and playing with Mirio’s pure heart.   
So the young woman stood there behind her door, crying, slowly slid down the blank wood and grabbed with her hands the ends of her sleeves, pushed the arms hard against her chest.   
They were together since 2 years, also their anniversary was just a week ago and the elder of them was still acting the way like she did for these 2 years and longer.   
Mirio grabbed the sleeves tighter, it gave her nearly the feeling she ripped her sweater. It was something that she couldn’t get into her mind; just the feeling she had and the pictures in her head gave her goose bumps all over her body. She saw Masao, saw her tightly embracing that other woman, kissing her, touching her; but before the pictures were too overwhelming she punched with her fist on the floor, cried even more than before.  
Masao cheated on her; shamelessly and courageous and she still was wandering around with pride and kissed and touched Mirio like before, like nothing happened, till the day Mirio found out what Masao was playing.   
  
_“What are you doing here?!”_  
 _“Mirio!”_  
 _“Masao! This is disgusting! Why are you… why…”_  
 _“Let me explain!”_  
 _“I think the situation explains itself pretty well.”_  
  
And the worst was, Masao didn’t cheat with any girl, no - it was Ryuu. Ryuu was a mutual friend of them and tried to hit also on Mirio a while ago, but she refused, because she was with Masao. From all of the girls in this city she has chosen her to play her dirty game with. Or maybe it was Ryuu who got along with Masao, but Mirio didn’t care. It was a fact she couldn’t ignore and still she was disappointed, upset and sad.   
Just slowly she had the power to get up from the floor again, wiped some tears away and while she was going into her bedroom she stripped her sweater off, which was also already wet because of all the tears she shed. And she didn’t even know anymore why she shed so many for that woman she used to love. Or still loved. She was unsure about that. Deep inside of her she knew she still had feelings for her, because she was obviously not the one who was cheating, now she just had to suffer from this bad experience. Yet, she still couldn’t believe why the elder did it, she always told her that she loved her, that she wouldn’t ever let her go and then…  
Mirio dragged out another sweater from her wardrobe, threw the other in her hand in a corner of her bedroom and put the new one on. Without closing the wardrobe again, she left the room and found herself a moment later in her living room. A vase was lying on the white carpet; the flowers which were in it fell out of it when she dropped the vase to the ground. She became suddenly so furious when Masao stood in front of her that this poor glass building had to suffer. But it didn’t break, so Mirio picked it up and brought it to the kitchen to fill in new water, until she realized that there were no flowers anymore to put them into the vase. The ones lying on the carpet were from Masao, a gift for their anniversary. Red roses. For a second she wished they were white lilies, but she pushed that thought instantly away, it was way too mean in her opinion.  
She went back in the living room, picked also the flowers up and found that little note Masao wrote for her, hid it into the bunch of roses.   
  
_‘For the love of my life.’_  
  
“Liar.” Mirio said cold with snappy voice and crumpled the piece of paper; throw it into her waste basket.  
She was also already at the point where she asked herself if Masao really loved her and cared for her or if she was just a playing ball, a game for the elder all the years when Mirio felt deep love for her. But maybe she just painted everything black right now because she was hurt.   
The young woman threw all the roses away; they didn’t fit in her garbage can, so she put them in a plastic bag and set it in front of her entry door. Everything related to Masao should move, but it was too much. Many items in her apartment were remembering her of the elder, of the situations when Masao gave her these things, especially when they had a certain value. Like that ring, that was lying on her commode. Mirio got it from the other to their first anniversary. It was beautiful and when she wasn’t able to wear it on her hand, she mostly wore it around her neck, paired with a necklace.   
She took that ring, observed it and sighed, felt how the tears were coming back and she had to swallow hard. Instantly she opened a drawer and put it into it, closed the drawer fast again and turned around.  
She needed air. Air to breathe and to get her mind clear again. Everything in this apartment couldn’t help her to come over Masao, so she quickly decided to go out, to enjoy the evening, maybe as well as the night, who could know what the night will give her?  
But her first goal was to get out of her home. So she washed her face, put on some shoes, took a jacket and left as fast as she could. She didn’t know where she wanted to go, just out, out of her memories, out of her love and out of the thoughts that were still reflecting Masao.  
  
Her way led her finally to a park, not really far from her home, after she walked around the streets, passed restaurants, stores, pubs, heard people laughing, talking, having fun. But she couldn’t enjoy the night life of her city, everything in her mind was distracting her, but not in a good way.  
She saw that park as a last expedient to flee from the thoughts. Mirio noticed that she was almost alone here, just sometimes a few people with her dogs passed by, some lonely dreamers were sitting under the trees, were waiting for anything and nothing. The young woman wished she could think like them, with a free mind, but it wasn’t possible now.   
After a few more steps she found an empty bench, made the quick decision to take a rest for a moment and just to relax. She felt a bit lighter than before, but still something was pushing her down with its incredible weight on her shoulders. After a few seconds she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and just listened to the sound of the wind in the treetops, dogs barking far away at each other, someone was whistling a tune. She sighed.  
  
“Why…?”  
  
“Why not?” Mirio raised an eyebrow and instantly opened her eyes, she hasn’t noticed that someone was sitting suddenly next to her and now talked to her.  
“Eh… excuse me?”  
“You asked ‘why’, so I asked you ‘why not’? Simple as that.” The voice of that other woman beside her was kind of deep and the scent of her light perfume was surrounding the air around her.   
It smelled good and Mirio got suddenly a bit distracted, but she tried to be clearer and fixed the other persons eyes. And although it was really dark, she could see a light gleam in them under the lantern.   
“Having a hard time? You seem stressed.” The woman asked her, put on a slight smile and adjusted her scarf a bit, Mirio was just staring eagerly at the, in her opinion older, person.  
“Everytime I’m stressed I come out here and enjoy the nighttime, the breeze and the silence. Then I feel better. But I have never seen you here before.” The other moved a bit and Mirio was now able to see her face more clearly in the mild lantern light.  
Also she heard her words, but wasn’t that sure if she understood her rightly. It sounded like she came often to that place. Then the other woman laughed.  
“I’m sorry, I’m just a stranger and bothering you, I should leave.” With that the woman was about to stand up, but Mirio interrupted her.  
“No, wait. Please stay.” She just said and made her move back on the bench.  
“I was rude; I just didn’t expect someone to talk to me. My name is Mirio by the way.” The young woman smiled, meanwhile the other nodded.  
“Nice to meet you, Mirio. I’m Magee.” She smiled also again; it was an honest and almost beautiful smile, Mirio wished for her she could smile like that also again.  
“You… you were right. I’m really having a hard time…” Mirio then said quietly, lowered her head and kicked a stone between her shoes back and forth.   
She felt uncomfortable telling a complete stranger about the loss of her girlfriend, but somehow she felt also save and Magee didn’t seem like a bad person. But Mirio became silent, was too embarrassed to tell her the whole story, so she lifted her head again and put on an awkward smile.  
“It’s okay. Everyone’s having a hard time, don’t they? We have to learn to deal with a lot of things in this world and on completely hopeless days like today, two strangers meet in the nighttime and talk about the bad things in life. Maybe it was fate.” Magee stood suddenly up and walked a step away, turned around, fixed Mirio’s gaze, how she looked confused at her.  
“You should keep your head up, also the bad times will pass, you will see. And if they won’t pass that fast, you can always come back to a place like this. That’s what I do. See you again…” With these words the taller woman turned around again and moved away, the wind flowing in her coat, it seemed like she was flying over the path.  
Mirio looked after her until she couldn’t see her anymore in the darkness. It was awkward, but she felt strangely better than before, though this talk was kinda one-sided. But she recalled the words Magee told her, stood also up and walked back home.  
She was unsure if she would see her again, but she knew she could come back to that park whenever she felt bad, expecting the other to be here as well.  
  
Back home Mirio threw her keys on the table, the shoes in a corner and her jacket on the couch. She was tired, the fresh air did his part and now she just wanted to sleep. But before she was able to walk into her bedroom, she noticed her answering machine. Someone called and it was a message on the machine. Although she has already known from who this message was, she couldn’t delete it; she pushed the button and listened to Masao’s voice.  
  
 _‘Hey Mirio. I don’t know if you’re really not at home, but your mobile phone was also switched off. Please, call me back. I want to explain everything. Please, give me this last chance. I love you.’_  
  
Mirio sighed, heard the long beep of the answering machine as soon as the message was finished and closed her eyes, took a deep breath.  
No, she wouldn’t deal with this tonight anymore, tomorrow was also a new day and she hoped for it to be better.  
  
  



	2. Lost And Found

Mirio’s day started as usual, she slept long, woke up and took a shower. It was a day off for her, so she wasn’t in need to do her things fast and in hectic. Usually she was every day almost late for her work, just caught the subway within the second the doors were closing and a lot of people had to suffer from her rude way to find a way through the crowds on the streets. And currently she didn’t even feel to go to work at all; the sadness was still so deep inside her bones that she hardly could handle it.  
When she came out of her bathroom with a towel around her shoulders she saw her mobile phone lying on the little cupboard in her vestibule. She hasn’t switched it on since 5 days now, because she knew Masao was trying to call her, but she had no energy to deal with her. All the stuff the elder recorded Mirio on her answering machine did she ignore, though she didn’t delete any messages, she just didn’t answer.  
However she wanted to check if she got any other messages, she could simple ignore all the ones Masao has sent her; so she gave it a try.  
Switching the little gadget on she rubbed her hair a bit with her towel; her hair dryer was broken and so she had to deal with the natural way of drying her hair. And as expected the whole inbox was full with messages from Masao, why couldn’t she just let her be for a while? Just because Mirio wasn’t able in the moment to talk to her, to listen what she wanted to try describing to her? The whole incident with Ryuu? No, Mirio told her it’s over and she didn’t want to give Masao a new try, too much happened.  
Dealing with her emotions and sadness right now must have been a natural progress, but who else was able to easily get over such a long lasting relationship with such deep passion?  
Mirio sighed, there were no other messages, just the ones of her ex girlfriend, so also her friends didn’t really care about her.   
But before she was able to switch the mobile off again, someone called her.   
“Huh?” She didn’t know the number and it was a bit suspicious, but she just shrugged and picked up.  
  
 _“Hello?”_  
 _“Mirio? Hey! Good to hear you finally again.”_  
 _“Masao? What do you want? Since when do you have a new number? Ah… Never mind. What do you want?”_  
 _“It’s not my number… please listen. I want to see you and I want to be really honest with you, but you must give me a chance to explain myself.”_  
  
Already in that moment when Masao said that this wasn’t her number Mirio raised her eyebrows and swallowed. Whose number could it have been then? Maybe Ryuu’s? She didn’t have the number of her as well in her phone, so it was pretty possible. And all Mirio could see since Masao’s betrayal was her being with Ryuu. The young woman closed her eyes and shivered while Masao was still talking on the phone.  
  
 _“Mirio? Are you still there? Please answer.”_  
 _“I… I don’t care anymore, okay? Just get out of my life and stop calling me or I will change my number!”_  
  
And then Mirio hung up, instantly switched her mobile off and threw it back on the cupboard.  
She felt how tears were coming up in her eyes, so she took one end of the towel and wiped them away.  
“I don’t want to cry anymore because of you. I cried enough.” She whispery spoke against her phone and turned around, went in her living room.  
The idea of getting a new mobile number was pretty good in her opinion; she decided to think of that again on another day. Or at least when Masao started to annoy her again.   
Mirio fell on her couch and sighed. Her day was over before it really began. She slapped her hands in her face and just took some deep breaths before she leaned back fully, looked to the roof. She could have punched herself for switching her mobile on; otherwise her day would have been easier and more relaxed. Now it was just destroyed.  
She caught the clock, 11 am and she hasn’t had breakfast yet, but she wasn’t hungry at all. Her gaze wandered around, she looked out of the window, saw the golden trees in front of her apartment. It was already fall, although it wasn’t that cold yet. Mirio liked this season a lot, but for now it just gave her pain so far, so she wondered if she was able to enjoy the fall as much as she did before.  
A hard wind was blowing and she suddenly remembered the evening when she got out to that park not far from her home and met that certain stranger. But she wondered what’s her name has been, she wasn’t able to recall it again. And right in that moment she was annoyed by herself for not being able to keep such simple things like names in her mind. She also had to struggle a lot with names at her work so far, it’s always a disaster.  
She sighed. Again. She really wanted to go out and enjoy the autumn sun, but her body felt heavy, not able to move. So she closed her eyes for a second, at least she thought it was a second.   
When she woke up again it was much later and she grabbed her head, felt how the hair was dry as well as the towel around her neck. How long did she sleep?  
She took another look at the clock, 4 pm.  
‘Oh, great…’ Slowly she got up, threw the towel on the couch and lurched into the kitchen, opened the fridge and found almost nothing; just a few slices of bread, some jam and a bottle of orange juice.  
‘Way to go.’ She just thought, took out the juice and drank straight from the bottle.  
Still she didn’t want to eat, still had no desire to do anything else, but she needed to go out of this place again.   
It was depressing to be here alone, backwards there was always Masao here, not everyday and also not 24/7, but she was there when she needed her, took care of her and talked a lot with her as well. And she made Mirio laugh, now there was no one anymore making Mirio laugh, her world became just a little more grey.  
  
She put the bottle of orange juice back into the fridge and slammed the door of it.  
“I can’t handle this anymore.” She ran out of the kitchen, searched for her shoes, her jacket and left the place.  
It was not just the environment in her apartment, also the scents around her and the thoughts she had made her think of Masao, and that was something she really didn’t want. But why was it so hard to get over it? Mirio never knew it could be that tough.  
This time she walked straight to that park and saw a lot more people than the first time she was here, but it was still bright and the people around her wanted to enjoy the sunny day after all. Nobody would know with what Mirio had to fight inside her chest. So she wandered a bit around and saw families, teenagers, jogger, lovers…   
Then she found an empty bench again and could have sworn it was the same on which she was sitting the other day, but it has been dark, so she didn’t know at all. So Mirio sat down and glimpsed at the people again until she raised her head and observed the treetops. They were beautiful in a perfect golden color. Between them were also trees with completely red leafs and they completed the picture of a perfect landscape just even more.  
Mirio smiled slightly and closed her eyes again for a moment.  
  
 _“I thought I wouldn’t see you again.”_  
  
“Eh?” Mirio opened her lids again, looked in front of her.  
There she was, the woman Mirio met the other day in exactly the same park and she laughed with her deep mellow voice.  
“I… I haven’t noticed that you were coming towards me.” The young woman just said and blinked, blended by the setting sun.  
“No offense, I’m a silent walker.” The taller woman sat down next to Mirio and smiled at her.  
“You weren’t here for almost a week, I guess you are as busy as all the other people here around.” She just kept on talking, though Mirio searched for words to give just any clever answer, but she wasn’t able to.  
“Do you remember my name? Most people don’t. Oh, and I guess you think it’s creepy, but I do talk to other people as well, but nobody was so kind and talked back to me, like you did. I felt comfortable.” The other turned her head away, but still smiled, looked to the ground.  
“How do you mean?” Finally Mirio was able to ask her at least something.  
“Well, I mean the sound of your voice reminded me of something and the way you acted was also familiar to me. I felt instantly comfortable in your presence. I don’t have that feeling with a lot of people.” Suddenly the voice of the taller woman became quieter and she sighed toneless; Mirio could recognize it on the way she was breathing.  
“Are you… are you having a hard time as well?” Mirio remembered the other guessing on her situation and she was right, so she concluded that she maybe had some problems too.  
The elder just nodded slightly and raised her head to the sky.  
“But it’s not important anymore; I’m almost over it and ready to have a look into the future.” The gaze of the other was hitting Mirio with a certain gleam and she felt her heart beating a bit faster.  
“Your name was Mirio, right?” The young woman nodded hesitant and folded her hands in an uncomfortable way.  
“Come on, let’s take a walk.” With these words the other stood up and pointed out to Mirio that she should do it as well, and so she did, following her.  
They walked along the pathway until it ended, but the taller didn’t stop, but rather walked further into the grass, behind a few trees.  
“The path ends here!” Mirio was calling after her, but the other just turned around and smiled.  
“When the old path ends, find a new one!” She laughed out and beckoned Mirio over.  
“But…” Suddenly Mirio felt something inside her; it was kinda awkward, because this feeling was pretty unfamiliar to her.  
But the words she just heard were letting her hope for something new, for a new beginning, maybe a new life. She realized that she couldn’t be sad over something for too long, it would have been just leading into depression and that was the last thing she wanted.  
  
 _‘When the old path ends, find a new one.’_  
  
She recalled the words a few times, then followed the other woman and smiled. And she smiled honest and without any fear behind her face that she wasn’t allowed to smile like this.  
“It wasn’t that hard, was it?” The other winked at her and walked again in front of her.  
“I want to show you something.” Mirio followed her through the trees, across untouched grassland – at least it seemed to be untouched and above a little hill until the other stopped.  
“Here we are. Isn’t it beautiful?”  
Mirio couldn’t see anything first, but when she was at the same height as the elder she set herself aside her and swallowed. She saw the sunset, the most beautiful sunset she has ever seen in her life.  
The sun was deep red and some fluffy clouds were floating in the air and slowly it became darker.  
“This is… this… I…” Mirio wasn’t aware of her words anymore and she just stood there with her mouth wide opened.   
“I see, you are stunned.” The taller woman said and laughed low.  
“I watch the sunset almost every evening when I come here but I never had the chance to share it with someone else.” She lowered her voice a bit more and didn’t speak that loud anymore; also she raised her head again a bit and looked above her, saw some birds flying through the treetops.  
A sudden wind blew hard and made Mirio shiver. It was still warm while standing in the sun, but the darker it became the colder it was also and Mirio was a person who felt cold pretty easily.   
“We have strong winds here since a few days, I wonder why.” The taller just said and noticed how Mirio shivered.  
“Let’s go back.” Again that certain smile and suddenly a touch on Mirio’s arm made her shiver even more, but not just because it was cold.  
Somehow this woman was fascinating her a lot, but she didn’t know why and she didn’t dare to ask her why she was still talking with her like they were old friends; so she started with something different.  
“Do you want to hear my story? Why I am so sad and couldn’t keep my head up?” The elder turned her face around and right after that her whole body.  
“Sure. But you seem happier than before.” Mirio swallowed, it was obvious that she felt better in the presence of the other; maybe it was the way she talked or the way she was thinking, she couldn’t figure it out.  
“Let’s go back to that bench then.” Mirio suggested and together they walked back, sat down on the same bench as before.  
And then the young woman slowly started to tell and explain what was on her mind, how Masao cheated on her and now were terrorizing her with messages and calls and that she couldn’t breathe the air at home anymore because everything was somehow related to her ex girlfriend and that she was searching for a solution.  
  
 _“Maybe I can help you.”_  
  
Mirio turned her head a bit too fast around. She was totally into talking, that she didn’t expect the other to interrupt her.  
“W-what?”  
“You heard that right. Maybe I can help you get out of this dilemma. You need a solution but you can’t find it. Well, it…” The elder held in and smirked, she was about to tell something but she didn’t.  
“Well, I have to go. But don’t forget that I’m always here. So, if you need someone to talk or just hang out with, come and meet me.” With these words she stood up and was about to leave, but Mirio stopped her first.  
“Hey, wait!” The elder looked back over her shoulder and stopped.  
“What was your name again?” Mirio felt how she blushed, but she hasn’t had another opportunity to ask her, so she did it now right away.  
  
 _“Magee.”_   
  
And then she vanished away and Mirio felt how her heart was beating faster again and her body felt kinda numb. She couldn’t move first, just stared blank in the darkness where Magee disappeared.   
It was awkward, but she knew that this person was something really special, in any case. She wished she could become at least friends with her. But thinking of that made her pondering that she knew almost nothing about the elder woman and still they were going along with each other pretty well and the words of her were heartwarming.  
Slowly Mirio got up, took another look into the darkness until she hit the pathway again and walked back home.  
  
Standing in front of her entry door she recognized a paper sticking on it. She raised an eyebrow and came closer, read what was written on it.  
  
 _‘Mirio, love, I was here and wished for you that you were here also. But you weren’t, so I wrote this note. I can’t live without you, just let us find a way to speak to each other again. With love, Masao’_  
  
Mirio ripped the paper apart and crumbled it instantly, felt some upcoming tears, but she held them in directly.  
“No.” She told herself, crumbled the paper even more in her fist.  
“I won’t cry anymore because of you. And I think I have a way to get over you finally.” She opened the door, put her stuff away and went right into her bedroom; switched the lights on.  
On her desk, she opened a drawer and put out a little notebook, took a pencil and flipped some pages till she found an empty one. And it was not much what she was writing in capital letters on that page.  
  
 _‘Magee’_  
  
“Yes. I think you can help me… and I hope I can help you as well, in any case.” She closed the notebook and turned off the light on her desk.  
No matter what, she was sure that this accidental meeting was fate.  
  



	3. Letting Go

No people were on the pathway, just Mirio who was wandering around. It was dark, pretty cold and a hard wind was blowing, the treetops were swaying heavily but Mirio walked further, but it seemed that the pathway has no end.  
It was getting colder and colder but instead of going back, Mirio just walked further along the way until she saw a bench; a wooden bench that was more than familiar to her. She tried to reach it, but with every step it seemed the bench was fading away. She rubbed her eyes, thought of not seeing it right and then it disappeared like a hallucination. Mirio turned around and saw just the pitch black darkness behind her, the trees disappeared also.  
‘Huh?’ Again she turned around and then she saw the end of the pathway, heard a voice from far away.  
  
 _‘Mirio! Mirio come over here!’_  
  
She struggled, swallowed and it felt like her feet were sticking to the ground. But that voice. She knew that voice.  
  
 _‘Mirio! Help me!’_  
  
And suddenly the young woman started to run, saw that little hill from a while ago and sprinted all the way up it, but she didn’t feel out of breath, that was kind of strange to her, because she was not a person with that much condition.   
Up on the hill on the other side of the edge she saw two persons. One of them obviously was holding the other firmly on both arms. But it was too dark, she couldn’t see any faces, just the voice of the one calling was so familiar to her.  
  
 _‘I need help! Quick, come over here!’_  
  
The one which was held yelled over to Mirio, but the young woman wasn’t able to move, again her feet were sticking. She tried it a few times but she couldn’t move from her spot.  
  
 _‘Why won’t you help me? I thought you were my friend!’_  
  
And then the second person nudged the one yelling after Mirio down the edge.  
‘Nooooo!’ Suddenly Mirio was able to move again, but before she came too close to the edge the remained person grabbed her on both shoulders and nudged her back in the other direction.  
‘What have you done? You’re a monster!’ Still the young woman couldn’t see the face of the other, but then the moonlight moved over and presented her the face.  
  
 _‘W-what?! M-Masao?!’_  
  
Mirio tripped backwards, fell over and landed in the grass, the eyes wide open she saw Masao coming closer to her.  
  
 _‘I just took care of your friend Magee. Now, she won’t disturb us anymore.’_  
  
The slightly elder came closer and grinned mischievous, Mirio could swear she also saw Masao’s eyes gleaming red. The latter was about to grab her arm and Mirio knew it was too late.  
  
 _‘Noo! Stop it!’_  
  
  
Lying in her own sweat, Mirio woke up and instantly sat up in her bed, the blanket pushed away; she felt how her hair was sticking to her nape. She looked around in the darkness and saw nothing. Just her usual bedroom, as always. She closed her eyes for a second and took a really deep breath.  
“It was just a dream.” She said to herself and repeated it several times, yet she was afraid to lie down and fall asleep again.  
Her gaze was wandering to her alarm clock on her little nightstand, 4 am. Mirio sighed and put a hand on her forehead. She felt the warmness, almost if she had a fever, but it was just the adrenalin rushing through her body, making her feel unwell. It took sometime until she felt how her heartbeat was getting slower again, still the images were present in front of her eyes, although she tried to fight against them.   
It was Masao nudging Magee off a cliff; in fact her mind told Mirio that Masao has murdered Magee. She shook her head hard, stroked some lost strains out of her face and felt the sweat on her fingers. It was an awful nightmare, but she was glad that it wasn’t real. Still she wasn’t comfortable to go back to sleep again, at least not in her bed. And suddenly she was also wide awake. So she got up, walked around in her apartment, turned the TV on, sat in front of it and hoped to get tired again. And it helped, after watching half an hour of stupid early morning commercials she felt her lids becoming heavy again and she drifted away in her sleep.  
  
When she woke up again it was much later, Mirio felt her head being heavy and she also got a little headache. The TV was still running, but she didn’t even pay attention to it, just got slowly up and wandered into her bathroom. Her gaze was meeting the mirror, she looked tired and done with the world; at least no bad dream was haunting her again. She made the decision to take a shower, maybe it would have relaxed her stiff body and her heavy bones, which she could hardly move.   
  
The rest of the day passed by very fast and Mirio did nothing productive all day, she was just over and over thinking about her nightmare and if Masao really was able to do such horrible things, but she just wanted to ban these images out of her head, if it wasn’t that hard.  
“A walk would maybe help.” She told herself and got slowly up from the couch she was sitting the entire day.  
She didn’t intend to go out at all on this day, she was too confused and out of her mind that she would have felt comfortable with it, but maybe it was the best and maybe she could see also Magee again.  
Thinking of that woman, her mood got instantly a bit better, not much, but enough to give her some energy to put her shoes and jacket on. So, she left her apartment, ignored the blinking messages on her answering machine. Masao still hasn’t given up, though her calls and messages have gotten less than before.   
Mirio walked to that park, the images of the dream came back, but she tried to fight against them, because nothing should harm her as long as she was here. Not even the fact that her mind played terrible tricks with her. After a while she found the same bench as usual and sat down. Now she knew that Magee could be around she waited for her, but she didn’t show up, but Mirio waited, enjoyed the last sunshine and listened to some birds in the trees, whistling tunes and the slight wind blowing through them. She enjoyed the calmness of the nature and tried to forget her dream fully, still it was giving her some goose bumps.  
  
 _“Hey Stranger.”_  
  
Mirio looked around, but couldn’t see anyone, yet that voice was more than familiar to her. She heard a chuckling.  
“Where are you?” She asked a bit confused.  
“Behind you.” Again the other one laughed and put her hands across Mirio’s eyes.  
“Don’t shock me like that!” Now Mirio laughed also, turned her head around, when Magee pulled her hands away again.  
“But it was fun.” She walked around the bench and sat down next to the young woman, gave her a warm smile.  
“I thought you won’t show up.” Mirio confessed right away and pushed her hands a bit deeper in her pockets.  
“How can’t I show up when I know that someone might be waiting for me?” Magee gave Mirio a little wink, saw how the younger woman blushed slightly.  
“That’s perfectly fine. I hoped that you will be here today…” Magee’s smile faded away, what Mirio gave a curious look; also the elder lowered her voice.  
“It’s been one year now.” She just said plain and hit the ground with her look.  
Mirio didn’t dare to ask something, but still she was curious and wondered about what Magee was speaking. Yet she didn’t know her at all, just the things that were obvious and also that was kind of a mystery for Mirio.   
“W-what… has been one year now?” She finally asked, whispering and she got a bit smaller in her jacket; she was pretty shy to ask a direct question like that.  
Magee sighed and turned her head to Mirio, smiled sadly.   
“I’ve never told you about my story, have I? Well, it’s long and complicated but…” She held in for a moment, looked to the sky and fixed the golden leafs.  
“But I think I might be ready to talk to someone about it. And I… I feel safe and comfortable in your presence, so…” Now she laughed again, as always, kind and heartwarming, without any sad intention anymore.  
Mirio grinned a bit, felt how her tension flew away. Magee trusted her and that meant a lot to the young woman. It has been just a short time but in these few days she got to like the elder a lot and she loved being with her here in the park, just talking and enjoying themselves without any fears or doubts.  
  
 _“I’m curious about your story.”_  
  
Magee took a deep breath and folded her hands, started talking, but refused to look at Mirio the whole time.  
“When I came in this city, I was alone; I had a hard time finding new friends and after I found some, just a few of them took care of me – more or less.” She held in for a second and looked down on her fingers.  
“But there was one person who gave me more, who was there for me in my hardest times, held me, comforted me and… even started to love me.” Again the elder took a deep breath, kicked a stone between her feet away.  
“She was that kind of woman I have never met before and I loved her to bits, until…” She was struggling with words, felt how her voice was breaking, Mirio on her side was still full of curiosity, followed her words accurately.  
“It was exactly one year ago. We were about to meet up here in this park. Most of the time we met up here, because it was the easiest way. So, I came along and waited below this tree.” She pointed at one of the trees directly in front of them; the one with the deep red leafs.  
Mirio swallowed and looked a bit anxious at that tree.  
“However… she didn’t show up. I waited here for an hour, two, three… but she simply didn’t show up. I tried to call her, but her mobile was switched off. And… I don’t know how long I stood under that tree, but at once I felt lonely again and being left, though I was not supposed to think like that.” Magee became quieter, bit her lower lip, and looked up to that tree.  
“W-why weren’t you supposed to think like that?” Mirio asked shyly, not sure if she should interrupt Magee in her thoughts.  
The elder swallowed, kneaded her fingers a bit too much.  
“I went back home on that evening, upset and willing to call her the day after. But I wasn’t aware of the things that were waiting for me at home. I saw that someone tried to call me and just left a message on my answering machine and I was curious if it was her, though in the same second I thought why she couldn’t call me on my mobile. But then…” Magee shivered and sobbed slightly, felt how tears were coming up.  
Mirio reached out her arm and laid it on the shoulder of the elder.  
“It’s alright. You don’t have to tell further if you don’t want to.” The younger said quietly and stroked across Magee’s arm, but the latter just shook her head and swallowed the tears.  
“It’s perfectly alright. Just having all these images in my head again is a bit overwhelming.” She just gave Mirio a short look, until she looked away again, fixed the path.  
“Well, I checked the message and it wasn’t her voice that was speaking, it was her mother.” Mirio raised her eyebrows, continued stroking Magee’s arm; she had the feeling the other had a really hard time in telling this and she never saw that person like this before; for her she was always happy and friendly and wiser than Mirio ever was.  
“The sound of her voice was full of sorrow and she spoke very slowly. She…” Magee took another deep breath.  
“She was dead. She has gotten hit by a car while I was waiting for her under that tree.” A single tear was leaving Magee’s eye and she swallowed hard, tried to control her body, but it was just shivering.  
Mirio also swallowed, had still her hand on Magee’s arm but hesitated to pull it away. She had no words for that right now and she felt kinda numb, because she didn’t expect something like this. For that her break up with Masao was just peanuts.   
But she couldn’t let Magee break out in tears right now, so she slid nearby her and wrapped her other arm around the shaking body, held her firmly and let her rest her head on Mirio’s shoulder. Yet Magee wasn’t able to hold her tears anymore.  
“I… I think…” Mirio started after a few moments of silence with a low voice.  
“… You are not over it yet. You are wise and you can give a lot of helpful advices but… but I think you have to take care of yourself as well.” The young woman didn’t know where these words were coming from, but they felt right and suddenly Magee raised her head, looked in the pair of eyes towards her and smiled slightly.  
She didn’t cry anymore, reached out with her hand to touch Mirio’s cheek, stroke gently across it.  
“Maybe we should help each other then.” The elder said with broken voice and tapped with her fingertip on Mirio’s nose.  
“On the first day I met you here, you were broken inside, you showed your sorrow and sadness to the world, but the people here are not responsible for your misery. I learned that quick and found a way to be happy again, although inside my chest the memories were ripping me apart.” She sighed toneless and raised her head to the treetops again.  
“The more I saw of you the happier you got. And I felt that I can be also happier again when I’m with you, without the horrible images haunting me from time to time.” Her gaze was wandering back to Mirio, which was silently listening to Magee’s words and she realized that she was right about the things she said.  
Mirio looked up for a second, felt a soft breeze in her hair and then the hand of the elder on her cheek again, so she looked back, saw that certain gleam in Magee’s eyes and how she just came closer to her face. Mirio didn’t hesitate, came closer as well and a moment later their lips were meeting each other. The younger automatically closed her eyes and just felt the soft opposite of hers and it gave her a little gooseflesh.  
The kiss lasted just a few seconds and as soon as they separated, Mirio caught Magee’s gaze. The sorrow has flown away and a slight smile was appearing in her face, so it did on Mirio’s.   
  
_“We should stop letting the past bothering us and start living for a future – together.”_  
  



End file.
